Interview with Yiannis Deliyiannis - founder of tradenow.gr

YD - My name is Yiannis Deliyiannis, I am 42 years old and I hold a BA on
Engineering & Management and an MBA. My professional career, focused mainly
on business process consulting and Internal Audit, took a twist two years ago
when I decided to embark on an entrepreneurship journey with tradeNOW – an
online barter marketplace. Together with 3 friends, we
decided to build an online marketplace where consumers and companies can trade
goods, services and real-estate. www.tradenow.gr was launched on 9th of January 2013
and one year later has more than 17.000 members and 300 companies – mainly in
Greece. We are currently raising funds to expand our operations into Europe.
Meanwhile, on February we will attend a 3-week acceleration program in Silicon
Valley, exploring the opportunity to establish a US – focused barter platform.

SK - Your personal opinion about the Greek start-up ecosystem. Will Greek start-ups manage to scale up and expand to global markets?

YD - The Greek start-up ecosystem is at an infant stage but it is rapidly
building up attracting attention from European investors. Having said that,
there is a lot more to be done in organizing and structuring a healthy start-up
ecosystem with solid foundations. There are numerous start-up activities taking
place all around Greece, but these need to be aligned and coordinated by a
formal framework backed up by investment institutions, angel networks and the Greek
State. It is fundamental to our country’s recovery that we invest in the
cultivation of the “entrepreneurship boom” and build an ecosystem that supports,
promotes and develops rock-solid start-ups ready to scale and expand to global
markets. Greek start-ups have all the talent and potential to scale up and expand
globally, but need proper coaching, mentoring, advice and support to reach
their full potential.

SK - Tradenow offers a unique platform that perfectly adapts to the current economic environment in Greece. There is less money available in the market but more need to barter and exchange. How will you respond as a company when Greece's economy will return to normal levels? Is demand for bartering connected with the current state of a country's economy or there is always a need for bartering independent of national borders and variable financial conditions?

YD - Indeed, tradeNOW offers a unique proposition to both
individuals and companies to offset the current economic environment. Individuals
barter goods they don’t want any more with products & services they really need
and therefore save money. On the other hand, companies see bartering as a way
to extract value from perishable or underperforming assets, and to expand into
new market channels and find new customers.

Whilst, the current monetary crisis seems to be the perfect timing to
launch a barter platform, it is not the most critical success factor. The key
to success is a cost conscious, resource utilization, value creation socio-economic
culture in all aspects of our economic behavior. A recessionary economy helps
to build on these behaviors, but we have invested in the belief that Greece and
the rest of the European countries will develop a different consumer profile
than the one we have experienced over the past years and that barter will play
a significant role in the economic cycle, even when recession is over.

Barter was the first form of financial exchange, thousands of years
before money was invented. Even after money was invented, barter was always
there filling the gaps but kept low due to two main limitations: Distance and
matching needs. Technology advances have lifted these limitations and enhanced
the scope of barter.

According to the IRTA, 400.000 companies using the “Modern Trade and
Barter process” world-wide managed to utilize their excess business capacities
and underperforming assets, to ear an estimated $12 billion in previously lost
and wasted revenues.

SK - Your goals in 2014?

YD - Our goals in 2014 are to perform a major upgrade on our platform -
providing our users a unique barter experience, to launch a mobile app and to
prepare the grounds for global expansion.

SK - Please close this interview as you see fit.

YD - First
of all I would like to thank you for the opportunity to present our start-up.

My closing note is to all those thinking whether or not to take the risk
and start their own business – “Do it now!”

Bachelor degree in History and Philosophy of Science at the University
of Athens. Master of Science with a major in Economics at Jonkoping's
International Business School in Sweden. Interned for the Swedish
educational organization Bilda and consulted for their music sector. Marketing, management & business development experience in Greek, Swedish and other international companies.

Music CV: Professional touring & recording musician since 2001.
Cooperated with various artists. I have been negotiating contracts with labels, booking events, marketing music effectively as a media product, online/offline in various countries/regions.